Sounds for Little Ones
(Dish Recordings)
Recorded at Children’s Fairyland and Lake Merritt in California by Mr. Bungle’s Trey Spruance, Sounds for Little Ones is music for mental patients. Filled with authentic field recordings of kiddy rides, ice cream trucks, and other delights, SfLO is equal parts eerie, equal parts innocent. Some of the talking rides and Fairyland characters are downright scary (listen to “Allen, they’ll eat you” or “Ananse, the Spider Man”). Other tracks send you down memory lane in a kind of bittersweet way. (The ice cream trucks made me a little misty-eyed). Other selections, like “Fairyland Music Space-Pop” and “Wrinkled Grey Elephant,” are just good time jamborees. They’ll set you adrift on clouds of retarded bliss. In any case, this is a fascinating album that folks of all ages should enjoy. Be forewarned, though: Repeated listenings may inspire you to run amok on a bloodthirsty killing spree. That is to say, if your “stairs don’t reach the attic” or you’re “close to the edge,” this puppy will send you right over to the other side. Enjoy…
Mike Cade